The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) is a research and development project funded by the U.S. Department of Education that focuses on developing, adapting, and studying a comprehensive school and community-based education program for high school students on the autism spectrum.

CSESA Research Activities

The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) has conducted a series of research activities including focus groups, small pilot studies, and a large scale randomized control trial to develop, refine, and evaluate a comprehensive intervention program for high schools serving individuals on the autism spectrum. Learn more about our research through a review of our presentations and publications.

CSESA Leadership Activities

The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) is a national leader in the discussion of adolescence, autism, and high school. We have developed many resources that can be accessed and used by individuals on the autism spectrum, families, educators, researchers, and/or other community members.

This Autism at-a-Glance was designed to support high school staff and family members in understanding and improving the communication skills of adolescents on the autism spectrum, specifically for students who have more significant communication needs.

Connect with CSESA

What People Say About CSESA

“I think that the more [my son] interactions with positive peers, the more comfortable he becomes with all interactions.”

– Parent about her son’s experiences in a Peer Network

“It was exciting to see how quickly [the student] learned the steps to the task analysis and how quickly he began implementing his new strategies.”

– Teacher about a student’s progress in independence

“My student was bringing all 6 of his binders to my class, and assignments were getting lost. It was also disruptive to have him spreading out all his stuff. His new organized binder, with just a folder for each class, has helped him be much more organized.”

– Teacher about how independence and behavior intervention helped a student

“I never understood how social students with disabilities really are. Getting to know [the student] has really opened my eyes to my peers with disabilities.”

– Peer about participating in Peer Supports

The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) is a multi-site research and development center.

CSESA is supported by the National Center for Special Education Research and the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education through Grant R324C120006 awarded to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The content on this site does not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.